


these nights shall become us

by farfetched



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: First Kiss, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, Late Night Conversations, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Sharing a Bed, Sharing a Room, dex tries to hide things with lots of caffeine, it doesn't exactly work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-29 05:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17802287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/farfetched/pseuds/farfetched
Summary: Nursey starts sharing a room with Dex. The weird thing is, Dex never seems to actually sleep in it.Nursey thinks it's a problem Dex has with him. He's also determined to work this one out, however much Dex tries to avoid it.





	these nights shall become us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pugglemuggle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pugglemuggle/gifts).



> For pugglemuggle! Hope you enjoy it!

Nursey was, although he'd never admit it, a bit offended when Dex realised that the dib flip would be shared.

He'd not reacted well. 

Perhaps it was an understatement to say he was a little offended, because he was a lot offended, and he'd even thought he and Dex had been getting on well. 

It led to one of their biggest fights so far, because even though Dex wanted another flip, Lardo and Ransom both said no. Ransom lived by rules, and the By-Laws were rules - laws, even - of the Haus. They were to be abided by. If Dex had agreed not knowing the possibility of a split vote, that was his fault. 

Dex shot back that it wasn’t exactly usual for a coin flip, and stormed out. 

Nursey had, until that point, been quite excited about it. He liked sharing a room; it was so far away from the lonely house his mothers called home, and he'd never had to do it before Samwell. 

Chowder was quite upset by the whole thing, and worked his magic in pleading Dex to come around. In the end, he begrudgingly agreed to it, provided he could sleep on the bottom bunk. 

Nursey was fine with this. He rather liked the idea of watching Dex work at the desk from the upper bunk, unnoticed. 

He may have also had slightly ulterior motives for being happy about sharing a room with Dex, and slightly greater reasons for being offended when Dex reacted badly. 

So, they went their separate ways for the summer. Nursey spent it between skating at the ice rink, contacting the rest of the team via every social media platform available to him, and being more than a little invested in how often Dex replied to his texts. 

It always amused him how someone interested in computers could dislike using them in a social way. He had Facebook, but barely updated, his wall mostly his siblings posting stupid things, and the occasional friend from home (Dex never talked about them. Nursey was very curious). He rarely commented all that much on the group chat, whether that was the one with just the frogs or the team in general. He didn't have twitter, and told him that everyone else talked about it so much he didn't need it. He had snapchat but refused to ever take selfies. 

Nursey wondered if he had a tumblr. If he did, it was his personal mission to find it. It would be hilarious, he would have thought. 

So summer was spent in a quiet haze of heat and loneliness. Nursey had a lot of time to himself. He visited Chowder over in Cali just for something to do, and tried to visit Dex, but he'd just gotten a vague reply reminding Nursey that he was working most of the time, and couldn't really afford the time off. 

Dex had seemed a bit resigned about it when they'd skyped, so Nursey took his victories where he could, and chose to believe that was because Dex wanted to see him, not that he just didn't want to have to work. 

And then started their time as roommates. 

Dex seemed weirdly on edge, but not overly so. Nervous about starting back, Nursey presumed, thinking nothing of it. 

Over the first few weeks, Nursey didn't notice anything wrong. If anything, Dex was better than his last roommate, being fairly tidy but not quite so anal about it, quieter, tending to wear headphones when he was working - when he didn't stay in the library for hours. And he never woke Nursey up when he walked in, whenever he did walk in. 

They had their disagreements, but they were minor, mostly. Dex wanted him to be tidier with his study stuff, so Dex could get to his without hassle. Dex wasn't overly happy about him smoking pot in the room, so they compromised by saying he could either smoke out the window or in the reading room. It seemed to suit. For his part, Nursey felt like Dex was avoiding him at times, and tended to leave his shoes right where Nursey - his head known for being magnetically attracted to the floor and getting there the fastest way possible, at times - would easily trip over them. And had done. Several times. 

But they worked them out. Dex made an effort to put his shoes away, and not be so distant. Nursey had a designated zone for dumping his stuff in a messy pile. 

So things worked well. 

Until Nursey started noticing the oddities regarding Dex's sleep patterns. 

Namely, the lack of any pattern at all. 

Or just. The lack of any sleep. 

The only regular thing seemed to be that Dex would not be asleep before Nursey, and would be awake before him. He was totally perplexed as to how he did it, and just to see, started going to bed even later, sometimes managing until two in the morning before he gave up, Dex quietly typing on the laptop, the sounds of it gradually fading away. 

During the week, it was easy to explain away. Dex had eight o'clock classes, although who knew why he'd ever wanted to sign up to those. Nursey never started earlier than ten, which suited him just fine. 

But at the weekends, particularly when they didn't have practice? 

Dex would be sat downstairs, dressed and working, reading, or just chilling. It was like he was phobic of staying in bed, or relaxing, or just having a lie in. 

Slowly, it occurred to Nursey that he wasn't actually sure he'd ever seen Dex asleep in a bed. 

After that, it turned into an obsession. He tried setting alarms at weird times of night, times no one should be awake. Sometimes he caught Dex asleep, but sometimes, he wasn't even in bed. Nursey never quite had the inclination to find out where he'd gone, too much of a heavy sleeper to ever actually get out of bed to solve the mystery. 

So it went unsolved for a month or so. He started watching Dex closely though, in that time, and noticed that since the start of term, he'd gotten worse. He had dark circles under his eyes, drank more coffee, stronger and darker, as if he was forcing himself to stay awake during the day. His reactions weren't as good, even on the ice, and he seemed more listless than he had done. 

Noticing that, Nursey decided he had to address the issue. It had to be something to do with the sleeping arrangements, because he'd not been quite so bad last year, and it was virtually the only thing that had changed. 

Dex was surprisingly evasive on the subject. Whenever Nursey brought it up, he changed the subject or swiped it to one side, or just ignored it completely, as though he hadn't heard. 

Now, Nursey was getting upset. He genuinely thought he and Dex were friends. And now Dex was letting whatever issues he had with sharing a room with Nursey affect him in all areas of his life, but refused to talk about it to Nursey himself. 

Was it that he felt like Nursey would prank him? Was he one of those people that hated the idea of people watching him sleep? But he could have sworn he'd seen him sleeping on the tour bus. In fact, he recalled being sort of scared because Dex had been really difficult to awaken at the other end, but Lardo had just told Nursey to leave him to it. Dex got well and truly chirped, but didn't really defend himself as usual. As though he'd been expecting it. 

Disheartened by the apparent lack of trust, the uneasy truce continued on for a while. Nursey did his best to ignore the hurt about not being able to be confided in, and the anger that Dex was hiding something vital from him, and Dex continued on like he always had, with next to no sleep, and if Nursey stayed up later just to spite him, well, nobody was perfect. 

It all changed a little before winter break. 

Nursey wasn't totally sure what had woken him up, but he heard a shuffling, and footsteps going out the room and down the stairs, then silence. He assumed Dex was going to the bathroom. Waited. 

And waited. 

Nursey found himself eerily awake, perplexed. Was Dex working? It wasn't exactly unusual, but now Nursey was angry. He wanted to know what the problem was. Why Dex didn't trust him, didn't trust enough in their friendship to be able to survive it, for doing such a shit job of covering it up. 

He stormed downstairs, determined to get answers. 

From the living room, Chowder shushed him urgently before he could even open his mouth. Nursey soon saw why. 

Dex was laid out on the couch, his head on Chowder's lap, and dead to the world. He looked peaceful, unlike all the other times Nursey had seen him asleep, apart from the time on the roadie, but then he'd just looked unconsciousness. He genuinely looked peaceful, and Chowder rested a hand in his hair, looking worriedly at him. 

Many things went through Nursey's head. What came out was: 

"Are you cheating on Farmer?" 

In his defence, it was four in the morning, nobody should be awake, and it looked awfully romantic to him, his heart flinching painfully at the thought of losing Dex to Chowder, of all people, and having to reconcile that. 

Chowder chuckled quietly, grinning. Thankfully, he didn't seem offended. 

"Hey, no, I'm straight, thanks. Dex is very nice, but I love Caitlin." He said, clicking his phone off, his face melting back into worry as he stared down at Dex, almost silent. "He couldn't sleep." Chowder murmured. 

"Why? Why won't he tell me? What's wrong with him? This isn't the first time, is it?" Nursey questioned, getting more hurt and irritated. He wanted to be the one Dex could come to with a problem. He just wanted to be the one Dex could turn to, problem or not. Chowder sighed deeply. 

"I think it embarrasses him? You'd have to ask him. He doesn't really ask for help..." Chowder replied, reticent. Nursey had the urge to shake Dex awake, to demand answers. 

He almost did. The sight of his finally peaceful face stopped him. 

"Then why did he come to you?" Nursey asked, frowning, and crossing his arms. It didn't make any sense to him, because before the whole room sharing debacle, he'd been closer to Dex than Chowder had. 

"He didn't?" Chowder said.   
"What?" Nursey uttered, perplexed. How on earth had it happened if Dex hadn't been the one to ask? Nursey sure couldn't see many ways of accidentally ending up asleep on someone early in the morning. Chowder tilted his head, thinking for a moment. 

"Well, the first time, I was doing an all-nighter to finish an essay, and he came downstairs and just started helping me with it, and he fell asleep on me. Today was a similar thing." 

Nursey took a moment to process it, the image of Dex being that tired. What was he doing to himself? 

"And you let him because...?" Chowder gave him a look.   
"Because he passed out? Because you're not the only one to notice how tired he always is?" 

"How many times has this even happened?" Nursey asked, his brow furrowing. He couldn't even pretend to be chilled about this; too early in the morning, and he'd been too annoyed by this to let it go now. 

"Uh... A few? Sometimes he's already down here. Bitty says he's seen him down here a few times too." 

Nursey blinked, looked back at Dex. 

Did he have to sit down here for an entire night to get to the bottom of this? Did he want to?" 

"Okay. Okay, I'll- I'll talk to him." Nursey said, backing away. When did Dex even sleep? 

Chowder nodded, looking glad.

* * *

Dex blinked owlishly, looking excruciatingly tired, watching Nursey, who was sitting on the sofa, half asleep himself. 

"What are you doing up?" He asked, puzzled. Nursey scowled at him. 

"I could ask you the same. From what I've heard you're always down here at night." He said, and watched Dex sluggishly process it. 

"No I'm not, Nurse. Just couldn't sleep." He yawned. 

"Really, Poindexter?" Nursey said, standing up, feeling the irritation rise. "Are you saying Chowder and Bitty are lying? That I can't see with my own eyes?" He accused. Dex frowned at him. 

"No! I'm not down here that often. I'm fine, Nurse, just leave it." Dex replied. "I'm going upstairs again soon." 

But he made no move to actually go. Nursey stubbornly stayed where he was. 

Dex seemed to realise he was waiting for more, and sighed resignedly. 

"I'm fine, Nursey. I just can't sleep right now." He murmured, and Nursey just felt himself get more angry. Dex was pushing him away again. 

"Oh right. And how long has this been going on? Maybe every night since you moved in with me? What's your problem, Dex? Can't sleep in the same room as me? Are you afraid I'm going to hurt you? Are you scared I'm going to try something, just because I'm bi? I should've known you'd be weird like that, Poindexter, should have-" 

"Don't make accusations, Nurse! As much as your inflated ego would like to believe, it has nothing to do with you! It never did, and it never will! Go fuck yourself, and leave me alone!" Dex yelled, eyes aflame with anger. 

"Not until you tell me what's wrong! Prove it to me! Prove it that you're not a bigoted asshole!" Nursey shouted, annoyed at Dex, and himself. This wasn't how it was meant to go. He was fed up of Dex hiding from him. He hadn't thought it'd been a problem when he'd told the team, but maybe it had, and he just hadn't known. Dex had seemed puzzled, but hadn't seemed to change his behaviour. But maybe sleeping so close to a bisexual person crossed a republican line for him. 

"Don't call me that!" Dex shrieked, and looked set to continue when they heard heavy footsteps down the stairs, and Bitty appeared, in shorts and a Falconer's jersey. Dex went pale, and Nursey just felt bad, even before Bitty spoke. 

"Y'all may not have class tomorrow, but can we not have a screaming match at whatever time this is?" He said in a dead-pan tone, wearing his most unimpressed look. 

"Sorry, Bitty, I'll just- go." Dex muttered, and strolled out the door. The two of them just watched him do it, unable to comprehend it. 

"Doesn't he sleep here?" Bitty said, confused. 

Nursey snorted.   
"Apparently not."

* * *

So Dex wasn't going to answer him. Well, Nursey needed answers, and he wasn't above being sneaky to get them. 

Via copious amount of caffeine lined up, and his phone at full charge and lowest brightness, Nursey set about finding his answers. 

At about midnight, Dex finally went to bed, muttering quietly under his breath, no doubt having learnt that Nursey, as a heavy sleeper, would not awaken to such quiet noise. 

If he hadn't already been awake, that was. 

Dex seemed to fall asleep before his head hit the pillow, his breathing evening out swiftly to a gentle rhythm, which almost surprised Nursey. Waiting a moment, he took a chance to peer over the side of the bed, but Dex was facing away from him. 

Spurred on by the caffeine in his system and a recklessness borne of irritation, Nursey managed, somehow, to slide down the ladder, bringing his comforter with him, and settled on the floor. He might have done otherwise, had he not seen Dex's face; it was troubled, set into a slight frown, and Nursey felt like something was wrong. If Dex woke up and asked, he was writing. He could pass many oddities off by saying they were for creative purposes, he'd found. 

It turned out to be not so much of a lie. About twenty minutes later, he got a flash of inspiration, fired by the confusion and hurt about the situation with Dex, and the not inconsiderable swig of bourbon he'd taken, it seeming like a good idea in his sleep-deprived state, to mix alcohol and caffeine. 

Around two am, he was just beyond tipsy, pleased with the poem he'd created, and very tired. He didn't want to wake Dex up by climbing the ladder, at which he'd surely fail, and with drunken logic, decided that if Ransom and Holster could sleep in the same bed, so could he and Dex. Plus, maybe Dex would sleep better. He'd started tossing and turning, generally looking unhappy, and Nursey was reminded of how peaceful he'd looked when sleeping on Chowder, and wanted to be the one to inspire that. 

Or maybe he just wanted to sleep next to Dex. 

Surprisingly, Dex didn't actually wake up when Nursey slipped under the covers with him, dimly aware that it was firstly a bad idea, secondly would make things very weird when they did wake up, and thirdly, a bad idea. He didn't much care, especially not when Dex groaned unhappily, a noise which stopped when Nursey wove his arms around him, and pulled him closer. They were essentially spooning, and Nursey was pretty happy with that, and Dex's breathing had evened out again to something much more relaxed, subconsciously curling up, loosely holding Nursey's arms closer to him. 

Nursey, at that moment, fell just a little bit more. He felt like he'd happily do this every night, if Dex was even going to look at him tomorrow. He closed his eyes, smiling, and fell to sleep.

* * *

Having returned from the bathroom, he at first thought Dex was having a seizure, albeit a quiet one. He was thrashing about, arms flailing, whimpering; the comforter fell from the bed, although this did nothing to halt Dex's motions. It just make them more frantic, unrestricted, as his face twisted into pained expressions that pulled at Nursey, as though he was the one experiencing pain, not Dex. 

Darting forwards, he grabbed Dex by the shoulders, and shook him.   
"Dex, wake up! Whatever this is!" He cried, and it worked miraculously well, Dex sitting bolt upright and nearly taking Nursey out. He fell onto his ass hard, looking up at Dex, who was staring at him in horror. 

"Derek, you died, you're not safe here, go, leave before they-" 

Dex stopped himself, coming to fully, and Nursey suddenly just got it. 

Nightmares. Dex must suffer with nightmares, and maybe that was why he didn't want to share a room, because he was embarrassed about it, and he'd rather not sleep than let anyone know. 

How could he be so stupid? 

"Nurse. What are you- what am I-" he started falteringly, eyes flitting away, ashamed. 

"You get nightmares?" Nursey asked. 

"No, I just- not often..." Dex mumbled, embarrassed. Nursey just wanted to hug him. 

"It's chill-"   
"It's really not, stop saying that-"   
"It is! I don't care, Dex, man, you were freaking me out with the evasion and the exhaustion, I couldn't work it out!" He said, and Dex actually laughed. Somewhat self-deprecatingly, but a laugh nonetheless. 

"Sorry. It's stupid. You don't have to- I deal with them." Dex said, running a hand through his hair. "Did I wake you up? Sorry. I can give my dibs to someone else if it bothers you, I'll go sleep in the basement, that'd probably be easier, actually. Maybe Whiskey would want it. Would that be alright?" Dex rambled, holding the comforter tightly. 

Nursey felt like he had no control over his mouth.   
"William Poindexter, if you don't shut up, I will kiss you to stop the stupidity." 

Dex blinked, blushed, and looked at Nursey carefully as he continued speaking.   
"I mean, Whiskey would want to be closer to the lacrosse frat, right? I heard he's friends with them, not that he's subtle. You get on with him, right? You might get Tango visiting a lot though. I think I met his roommate, he seems fine-" 

Nursey decided that yes, Dex was doing that on purpose, and that he was going to miss his chance if he waited any longer. 

Dex met him halfway, sighing into his mouth. 

Nursey felt like he could be dreaming. 

It didn't last long, Dex pulling away to yawn, groaning tiredly.   
"Sorry, I'm just..." 

"I know." Nursey commented, barely able to believe what had happened. "We'll talk in the morning." He affirmed, and Dex nodded, looking as though he wanted to say something more. 

But he stayed silent, and Nursey recalled his embarrassment, his peaceful face when sleeping on Chowder, the fact that nightmares were usually awful. 

"Do you want me to stay here?" He asked. Dex, if possible, went even more red. 

"No! No, that's- I-" He stuttered, and Nursey laughed.   
"I'm not going to try anything, you idiot. To help you sleep. If that's what works." He murmured, and Dex hesitated. "Um, if- don't get mad, but I was kind of sleeping here before you, uh, woke up." 

Dex looked at him.   
"What?" He said, utterly perplexed. 

"It was bugging me! You said nothing, and fall asleep on Chowder, but refuse to admit there's even a problem- was this the problem the whole time? Not me?" 

"Well, it wasn't not you. Who wants to admit to this?" He made a sweeping gesture, presumably to indicate himself in his entirety. "I didn't want anyone to find out." He then seemed to realise something, making a quiet 'oh' sound. At Nursey's puzzled look, he huffed bemusedly, looking away. "It was alright. And then it wasn't." He said vaguely. 

"It helps if someone's there, doesn't it?" Nursey asked. Dex nodded reluctantly. 

"It's not foolproof. But I deal with them fine, it's no big deal-" 

Nursey just responded with shuffling so they were both under the sheets, in a much similar situation as before. Dex looked as red as a lobster, but there was a small smile on his lips, so Nursey wasn't complaining. 

"Thanks." Dex murmured quietly, sounding sleepy already. Nursey was still under the effects of the caffeine, so he was wide awake; it just meant he got the bonus of feeling Dex fall back to sleep, quiet and peaceful and so, so much better. Nursey felt totally relaxed, relieved that it wasn't necessarily him that was the problem, more sharing a room, and he really would not be upset to do this again. 

"Goodnight, Will." He murmured, practically into Dex's neck. Dex did not even flinch, and Nursey found himself fading slowly into sleep, smiling.

* * *

Nursey woke up briefly to an alarm, and turned it off without thinking. Too early. He was comfortable, snuggled against Dex, and Dex was asleep - testament to his exhaustion that he did not wake up to the alarm - and he didn't need to move. 

Several hours later had him being jostled awake by a panicked Dex, mumbling frantically about how he was going to miss his class. 

Clearly still sleep deprived. Nursey snorted. Dex swivelled on him, trying to put some socks. 

"Don't snort! This is all your fault, you turned the alarm off I swear!" He cried, over-balancing and nearly careening into the desk chair. Nursey smiled lazily. 

"You already missed your classes. It's twelve." He pointed out, at with Dex turned to look at the clock, horrified. He seemed unable to comprehend it. "Come back to bed." Nursey said, Dex instead perching on it rather than cuddling up to Nursey, like he wanted Dex to. 

"I missed them. I can't believe I- what am I going to do?" 

Nursey knew enough that it was a big deal for him. 

"Chowder's in two of them. Isn't one of the other juniors in the other? I swear you were talking to him about it. You can catch up. You needed the sleep, believe me." He said, and Dex looked at him, nodding slowly while he seemed to process the whole situation, rather than just the time. Nursey watched the comprehension dawning on his face, and wished it didn't look so frightened. 

"What did I do?" He breathed, staring at him in horror. Nursey frowned. 

"As far as I can tell, I decided to sleep in your bed. You didn't do anything." He said, unsure how to bring up the fact that they'd kissed, and what this meant. For a poet, Nursey often found himself lost for words. 

Dex hissed, and looked away.   
"Shit." Nursey heard him say under his breath, and then, louder. "Good. I'm going to go catch up. See you." He said, and it was only after he'd left that Nursey considered that Dex might have construed the whole thing incorrectly. 

He didn't care so much when he stayed in Dex's bed, and consequently missed all his classes. He was staying here until Dex had no choice but to talk to him.

* * *

Faintly, he noticed that Dex looked like a deer in the headlights, as if awaiting some kind of doom, when he returned to the room, finding Nursey doodling in the margins of his writing book, having transcribed the one he'd written on his phone and adapted a few bits that didn't flow very well. 

He jumped up, strolled over to Dex.   
"Tell me what you think happened last night. I'm sure you're wrong, but tell me anyway." 

Dex frowned at him.   
"Does it matter? You got drunk and decided to sleep in my bed with me, and for once in my life I don't wake up, and you turned the alarm off." He stated, eyes not quite meeting Nursey's. 

"Anything else?" He asked, curious to see what he'd do. He thought Nursey had been a far greater level of drunk than he had been. Dex looked shifty, but shook his head. "I remember it all, Dex. I had some alcohol, but not much." He affirmed, and it took Dex a moment to think it over. 

"Everything?" He asked, his face going red again. Nursey smirked slightly. 

"From you and your nightmares - or terrors - to sleeping next to you to ward them off, to this." He said, leaning closer. He was perfectly sober when he kissed William Poindexter the second time, and it was much better for it. 

Dex relaxed immensely.   
"I thought I'd- you, I just..." He stuttered.   
"Willing participant." He said smugly. 

"Shut up, Nurse. Wait, does this mean- what does this mean?" Dex questioned, unsure and uncertain. Nursey sighed in an overly dramatic, long suffering way. 

"It means I get a free pass to sleep next to you if we both want, or vice versa. It means I can kiss you when I'd like to. It means, hopefully, that we are now dating." Nursey announced, feeling a wash of uncertainty come over him, fear that he'd read the situation wrong. 

Dex smiled shyly.   
"Dating. I think… I can deal with that. I mean, I don't want to tell anyone else yet, but I think I'd like that." He murmured, and Nursey just took advantage of that to kiss him for the third time, and definitely not the last. 

He could deal with that indeed. He would gladly deal with Dex, night terrors and all.

**Author's Note:**

> Present two of two! Hope you liked this one too! I'm sorry if things don't really match canon, as this was written a while ago largely, and finished up and minorly amended for this. But I couldn't resist rarepairs either, hence two presents...


End file.
